The past few months have been very busy for me. I’ve moved and settled in, holidays have come and gone, I’ve let my nerd side shine in the office. But, here we are, January is almost over and my mind is constantly on the trail again.

A car camping trip is already being thought of for late March. I will make sure we have a hike while we are out there.

I am planning to go back to the AT in May. I have a mandatory two weeks off for work (because of the contract I am currently under). The plan is to get the sections I missed between Hot Springs and Damascus, VA. I missed about 70 miles between Hot Springs and Iron Mountain, so that will be first. I am hoping to finish that in around 5 days. Based on what time I have left, I will go as far as I can from where I left off near Roan Mountain and head towards Damascus. I will leave a couple buffer days to help shuttle to trail days (and make sure I have a ride back to my car, as I will have it the whole time).

Lastly, I changed the map page! I now have a completion tracker. I know it will take a few years to finish, as I will be sectioning from now on. But, as I make progress, I will fill it in! Once I get closer to PA I will start making weekend trips out to the PA sections. Keep in mind other hikes will happen alongside trips to the AT!

I apologize for disappearing for a while, but as Winter fades away, the wilderness is calling my name!

Well, Black Friday has come and gone. Did you #Optoutside? I couldn’t unfortunately. I did have to work, albeit reduced hours, and then came home to work more on the move to a new home. It would have been the PERFECT day in my area to go hike. In the 50’s, not a single cloud…. I wish the timing would have been different. But, life is what it is. If you didn’t Opt Outside… find some time to go on a walk outdoors soon. Enjoy the weather.

Hey Escape Artists! I haven’t forgotten you! Been a little busy dealing with escaping my friend’s basement while nursing the injury from Allegheny National Forest. Doc said no hiking until she says my foot is good to go. I’ve been obeying the good doctor. With that, some news is coming soon, stay tuned!

Hey Escape Artists! I apologize about the lack of videos. I have been driving a lot with Uber while also doing a job hunt, which was not going well, until the past week. I had an interview on Friday (14th) and pretty much got hired on immediately. I already started the paperwork and start it in a little over a week. I had to abandon the project job plan, so any AT hikes at this point will be section hikes. There are a few bonuses to this job: vacation time accrues quickly, so hike time will come easy…. and it is for a company that is well known in my area, and the job is where I wanted my IT career to go. I am doing contract to hire, I have a year before I get hired on full time. Also, the job requires travel, so any trails I work close to will be hiked on the weekends! Special thanks to Escape Artist & Facebook follower Greg for the hookup for the job!

Laurel Highlands is on hold for now, once I have some PTO I will go do that. Any 4-day weekends will be the shorter hikes I mentioned in the video I put out after the AT.

The First 300 miles series is still in planning, I am recording some video in the coming weeks and will get the first video out around the first week of August. I am thinking it will be around 6 videos long, but may go longer if a topic is requested.

I appreciate the patience to my Youtube viewers, thank you for hanging around. In the meantime, go enjoy your weekend, and get outside!

So, I am planning my Laurel Highlands thru-hike. 70 miles total, looking to be around five days. Bummer the shelters aren’t more evenly spaced, but that’s OK. I’m also debating on taking some food that is campfire appropriate. Apparently, the shelters are close to roads and consistently stocked with firewood. Here’s the plan so far… dates are still TBD.

All of the pics I posted from my AT trip have been consolidated to the “pics from the trail” page. And… they are full size! Now you can see them in all their glory. I didn’t realize it until now, but when I originally posted them, it posted at 1/4 the normal size. Check them all out here…http://escapingtheoffice.com/pics-from-the-trail/ … and more will be added soon…..

Hung out with this guy at Little Rock Knob. View is in the upcoming video.Climbing up towards Grassy Ridge Bald, looking back at Jane Bald.View from Overmountain shelter (using HDR mode for the picture).Overmountain view again, but without HDR mode.Looking up at Hump Mountain before climbing it. “Oh, crap” was my train of thought…. but the view was worth it. Check the upcoming video.